First off. Let's all keep our fingers crossed and our prayers up to date for Wolf Creek and more importantly.....all the folks downstream. I mean dang it....It will be totally hanus if we lose the tailwater, but the loss of life downstream would be catastrophic.

Mr. Anderson. I don't beleive I know you, I'm Rocky. Nice to E-meet you. I've checked out your website and I've come to the conclusion that you probably know the river and area fairly well . The hea rsay you've heard really matches up with a lot of the hearsay I've heard and it sounds like the fishery could sustain barring a high rainfall spring and summer. Some of the tailwaters here in E TN seem to do better in low rainfall springs as well. I know a wet spring never seems to help things on the Holston because the cold water reserve is gone before it ever get's hot out. I think the Clinch falls into the same personality as well but on a smaller degree. Maybe the low pool will still have some cold water in it due to the sheer size of Lake C. Anyway, I look forward to hearing anything you'd be willing to share on the topic

Either way you guys are right about the economic impact on the area. The lake fishery and the tailwater brings a huge amount of much needed money to that area. SO it's kindly a double edged sword. You can go broke, or get washed away, and maybe both. So I suppose the fishery will be a small price to pay as long as they can keep dam in tact. So I think we should pray all the rain this spring goes south...(might as well pray it falls in the Hiwassee watershed while were at it ).

OK.....next topic.

You guys are on a good start and have some very interesting ideas concerning the Clinch. TWRA can achieve some great things and I don't see why they couldn't establish some proactive regs for the Clinch. I mean, look what they accomplished on the SH. By closing several miles of river to fishing for a few months a year and establishing some slot limits, TWRA and TVA have created one of the finest wild brown trout fisheries around. I'd have to think the land owners in Sulivan County are much like those in Anderson County.

The key thing here is communicating with the land owners about some proactive regulations. Listen to their thoughts and concerns and maybe they'll consider ours. It's doubtful that TWRA would proceed with any new regs concerning the land between Millers and Hwy 61 without the support of Lucro. I know most of us would love to see some real trophy regs on the Clinch, but at the same time I totally understand the landowners point of view too.

Growing up in TN, I've fished with just about any kind of tackle you could imagine. My papa used to guide fishing trips way back in the history books down on the TN river near Loudon. So I kindly got a good sampler of it all from cane poles and night crawlers to the old electric crank phones . Now, having moved on to become a fly fishing junkie, I can still see the value and desire of taking the kids down to the river, dunking some worms, and maybe frying up some fish.

So the main focus should be finding good common grounds with the folks who own the lands.

Pull out your state regs book. Read the license requirements section. Specifically the parts that read something like this. "no license required for residents of or first cousins on the mothers side kind of writing". Sounds kindly silly to me, but maybe the "special regs" section of the Clinch could read like this" Special regs apply to all anglers not in possesion of a Lucro value card or their 2nd generation great grandkids kids".

Maybe they would be interested in hearing more about progressive slot limits. Slots limits would still allow them to fish by whatever method they wanted, yet restrict them to harvest some of the smaller-ish fish or one of the bigger fish.

In the end, working together with all parties involved will be the best and probably only option for progressive regs on the Clinch. As stated, the upper river could possibly be elegible, yet with the already limited public water, that too could be met with resistance.

As Byron stated, joining a local TU is a good start. But being open and cooperative with the landowners will be the most important role.

The Winter TVA Cooperative coldwater meeting is tomorrow morning at 9:00 in Knoxville. I'll be there and I hope to be hearing some news about Wolf Creek (as the corps usually sends a rep) as well as some good news about the Clinch and the rest of the rivers and streams we call home here in E Tn. It's also a good oppurtunity to talk to all the agencies involved with our fisheries from TWRA to USFS. Maybe some of you guys are going and can voice your concerns and ideas to the powers that be there.

Keep this thread alive and see how much interest it generates because the squeaky wheel occasionally get's some oil. 8-)